Well, I can see why you guys were raving about paring the HE-4 with an old vintage integrated amp. Just got my hands on a NAD 3150 and I am certainly surprised by the sound (not to mention all the features).

The sound with them can still be a nice alternative to the HE4 sound. Honestly it's like a different headphone with the same planar magnetic delivery. Not bad having two different sounds from one phone (vs owning another one). However one of the the things that really makes the HE4 shine to me is it's accurate reproduction of stringed instruments with it's treble micro details and unfortunately that's lost.

Got my HE-4 yesterday and I've been listening to it for the whole day, comparing it to the DT880 @600 Ohms (with custom cable, never heard the original and I have no idea if it makes any difference), both running through the Aune T1 (stock tube).

And I gotta say they're both much more alike than what I thought.

Maybe my ears aren't sensitive enough or the Aune T1 doesn't do justice to the HE-4. The only differences I can tell are that the HE-4 is a little more balanced, airyer and maybe bigger soundstage because of that, and micro detail.

They do have similarities, listened for the first time to the DT880 600ohm at a meet last weekend (used to own the Pro) and the HE4 to me is better. If you bought new I would give it at least 100hrs before comparing.

Also if you're willing to mod, a grill mod and felt mod would do wonders for it.Edited by Soundsgoodtome - 5/1/14 at 10:34pm

Not sure how powerful the T1 is, but the HE4 scales up CONSIDERABLY with better amping. It can also change in character depending on what you amp it with. It was fun off the Lyr, and very refined off the SA-31.

The T1 puts out somewhere in the ballpark of a Watt if I remember correctly. You want more power to go with for the HE4. While it might sound quite good off the T1, an amp with more power like an Audio GD, Emo will sound considerably more refined.